Improvement in driers for paper and other fabrics



No. 222,821. Patented Dec. 23,1879, I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN E. HAWLEY, OF CHICAGO, 1LL1NoIs, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF OF HIS RIGHT TO HENRY A. BARNUM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN DRIERS FOR PAPER AND OTHER FABRICS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,821, dated December 23, 1879; application filed October 16, 1879.

riers in loops or festoons hanging therefrom in the space below to be dried'by the air while passing from the place of receiving the paper to the place of delivering the same, the air through which the paper travels being heated to accelerate the drying process.

The most common method of heating the air is by coils of steam-pipe stretched along the floor of theroom under the loops or festoons.

of paper, which are carried over them, from which the air rises up, on being heated, and

mheats and dries the paper; but the heat is lost, in large measure, for want of being confined to the space through which the paper passes, which, up to this time, it has been. thought by those engaged in the business,

could not be done because of the difficulty of inclosing the space in which the paper is carried with sufficient closeness without inclosing the machines, which involves also the inclosing of the workmen and the necessary space for their freedom of action, also doors for passing in and out, which, being frequently opened, would defeat the objects of the inclosure, and the heat would be intolerable to the workmen. There are generally several of the coloring or printing machines located on one floor of the factory, and the larger portion of the space is devoted to the drying process so, for want of any better plan, the heated air is allowed free circulation throughout the whole space, resulting in great waste, and requiring much larger space for drying as fast as the printing or coloring machines can perform their work.

My invention consists, therefore, of a contrivance to confine the heat strictly to the space within which the paper is caused to travel for the purpose of being dried-without interfering with the workman or the printing or coloring machines, but, on the contrary, af= fording the opportunity of ventilation and cooling of their quarters, if desired, and enabling the drying to be effected in much less space; or, on the other hand, if employing the same spacethat is, the same length of run to the drying materialallowing the same to travel faster, and thereby enabling the printing to be done faster.

Owing to the very great length of space through which it is necessary to run the paper for drying in the exposure to the atmosphere of the whole room, which, in so large a space, with all the openings of ordinary rooms for ingress of cold air and egress of hot air, cannot be kept hot enough, it is believed that the economy to be effected is very large.

Figure l in the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal sectional elevation of myimproved paper-drying apparatus. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same.

A represents the long strip or sheet of paper as coming in a damp state from the printing or coloring machine over the guide-roller B, and passing down to the lower portion of the inclined festooning or looping carrier-belts G, where it is caught from time to time, at certain distances apart, by the detachable bars D and carried up and delivered onto the more-slowlytraveling carriers E in loops or festoons, as shown, for being moved along the dryingspace, the said bars D being transferred along with the paper and continued along the said drying-space to the end, where they are thrown down on to the floor from the carrier, the dried paper being delivered onto the guide-roller F, from which it passes to winding-rod G for being wound up into rolls. The bars D are gathered up and carried back to the place of beginning, and dropped one by one into the guide-chute H, which is so adjusted relatively to the festooning-carriers that the lugs I on said carriers take the lowermost bar from under the chute each time they pass, said lugs being attached to the carriers the distance apart which corresponds to the desired length of one loop or festoon. A

The carrier 0 runs as much faster than the main carrier Eas is necessary to loop orfestoon the paper'upon the latter.

This apparatus, as so far described, is that in common use, and is not claimed, except only as to the method of inclosing the paper while suhdject to it to economize the heat, as above sal The idea of getting the bulky loops 'or festoons into and out of any inclosure that could retain the heated air has been the stumblinghlock which up to this time has effectually obstructed the efiorts of manufacturers in that direction, for it has been considered that the attention necessary to the looping or festoonin g of the paper in supplying the bars, and watchin g to guard against accident and for recovering the bars from the delivery end, demanded thatthe making of the festoons, and also the undoing of them, should be done'outside of the 'inclosure,which, of course, forbade any inclosure exceptsuch, as before stated, as would inclose the machine also, which is impracticable. I therefore propose an inclosing-case, L, into which the paper passes through a narrow slit, J, just in advance of reaching the place where it encounters the looping-bars D, with the chute Hfor the bars, preferably having its receiving end M outside of said inclosure, and its'idelivery N inside thereof; or, the case be in g extended, as indicated in the dotted lines, and the chute being wholly inside with a small opening, say at 0, through its side and the side of the case into it, permitting the bars to be shoved into it endwise, whereby the paper may be entered without much loss of heat, and the loops or festoons formed within it; and for the delivery of the paper at the other end in like manner I make the narrow exit-passage P, both for the paper and the bars D, and place it in such relation to the end of carrier E that the bars shoot over guides T through said passage on guidesVwhen thrown off at the end of the carrier and fall upon the floor outside of the inclosing-case. ately under said opening I fix a guide-roller, F, for the dried paper to fall upon after the bars escape and run over to the reel. The case need only be just wide enough along the main carrier for it to work freely; but where the festooning-carrier is I prefer to make it a little wider, as shown at Q, toafiord room for theatteudantto enter through adoor, R, in the side, in case of need, and adjust the paper.

S represents a flue that may be employed to cause draft for effecting the necessary circulation of the air, the cold'air being suitably admitted to the'heatii'ig-coil.

W represents the heating-coil for heating the air.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. The combination, with the festooning-carrier O and drying-carrier E, of a case inclosing the same to retain the heat, and having the special opening J, adapted in size and shape to the paper, and located and arranged with relation to the roller B and thefestooniug-carrier O substantially as described, for the entry of thepaper in advance of and delivery upon said -festooning-oarrier.

2. The combination, with thefestooning-carrier O and drying-carrier E,'of a case -inclosing the same to retain the heat, and having the special opening J ,-adapted in size and shape to the paper, located and arranged for receiving the paper-in advance of itsidelivery on the festooning-carrier, also a special opening for inserting the festooning-bars D upon the carrier 0, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the festooning-carrier G and drying-carrier E, of a case inclosingthe same to retain the heat, and having the discharge-opening P 'relativelylo'cated to the discharging end of the drying-carrier for the escape of the bars from the case when discharged from the carrier, substantially-asdescribed.

4. The combination, with the festooning-carrier O and drying-carrier E,of a case inclosing the same to retain the heat, and having the discharge-opening P-and guides T, arranged and adapted for the escape of the barsand the paper from the discharging end 'of the carrier E, substantially as'described.

B. R. HAWLEY.

Witnesses:

W. J. MORGAN, M. J. HANLAN. 

